In the center of London, at the heart of Westminster, there is a street called Whitehall. Along Whitehall you will find the majority of the Government Ministries. During the second world war, this central location, the heart of British government, was selected as the location for the War Room, the location where Winston Churchill and his top advisers would strategize and plan out the tactics for the allies defense against the German forces. The War Rooms were build in the basement of the Treasuries building. A thick 6 foot slab of concrete was installed over the ceiling of the rooms as a protection against a possible bomb attack, but in reality the building was not built or equip to survive a major attack. Their best defense was secrecy of the location. Churchill and his staff spent the years of the war here, eating and sometimes even sleeping in this underground bunker. When the war was over the lights were turned off, the doors were shut, and everything was left in its place without a second thought - pencils on desks, maps on walls, even sugar rations hid in secret desk drawers. Years later they decided to turn it into a museum. They literally turned the lights back on and let the history of the room, just as it was left, speak for itself, telling the story of this dramatic and tense time in British history.
On Thursday DJ and Michelle visited this museum. We learned about Winston Churchill and his inspiring life and leadership through this dark time of history. It was inspiring and memorable. Churchill is one of my new heros.
Churchill has an interesting and, to us anyway, unexpected background prior to becoming the Prime Minister. He was born into aristocracy and his father was a successful and well known politician. Winston, however, stuttered and had a hard time saying his "s". His parents were embarrassed by him and did not show him a lot of warmth. In his early career he joined the armed forces. He experienced several failures in his early career, including a significant military defeat in the second Boar war that lead to his forced resignation from the military. He also suffered several political defeats (including the 1945 election - he was voted out of office after leading the British nation to victory in war!). He spent the 1930's "in the wilderness", outside of political or military life and much more involved in some of his first loves and passions - writing and painting. He was one of the first warning voices against Hitler, but as a political outsider he was ignored. He became Prime Minister in 1940 when the then current Prime Minister, Chamberlain, was forced to step down. As a leader, Churchill was said to be energetic, exacting, difficult to get along with, and endearing all at the same time.
This is the room where Churchill would have met with his cabinet to decide the war strategy and tactics.
This room was disguised as a bathroom, or water closet (WC). It was said to be the private WC of the Prime Minister and none of the staff were allowed to used it. The sign in the door always read "occupied." It was, in fact, not a restroom at all but a private correspondence room with a direct overseas line to the US. Here Churchill would hold top-secret conversations with the President of the US.
I love this quote from Churchill. Perhaps a little pompous, but humorous all the same.
I love this quote even more. As we roamed through the museum and read about Churchill's life, it struck me that he had ample opportunity in his life to get discouraged and give up. I never would have imagined that someone so revered would have had so many set backs and discouragements. But this deep-seated belief that he had great things to do in this life - to glow - must have kept him going until he finally reached his potential. What if we all had that same deep conviction? What if we all lived our lives to "glow", what great things could we each accomplish?
And finally this quote, he knew he had reached his calling in life and everything - successes, failures, all of it - were preparation for this most important hour. And with that conviction he knew he would not fail. I love it! May we all have that confidence, that drive to be great, to know we are walking with destiny, fulfilling our purpose on this great earth. Not to say we won't have doubts, discouragement or dark moments. But rather, that through those hard times, to know there is a higher purpose, that light will come again, that we are meant to glow, and that we shall not fail!
The Churchill's private dining room.
Clementine's (Churchill's wife) bedroom. She did not stay here often, but there was a room for her if she did. Churchill also had a bedroom here, though he only spent the night there three times during the war. He would, however, take daily afternoon naps. With this afternoon pick-me-up, Churchill had energy to work far into the night. He was known to call meetings at 2 or 3 in the morning. His staff, who did not have the luxury of these naps, were exhausted and tired. Churchill, on the other hand, was fresh and fired up.
The Map room, maps of Europe posted on the walls, tracking the successes and failures and the next moves of the two sides in the war.
This is the main correspondence room. Each color of phone represented a different purpose. The white ones were used by Churchill to communicate with other top leaders and military officials.
The black chalkboard is where they kept tally of the wins and losses of the war, again, just as they left it with the then current score when the war ended. You can see on the desk three small sugar cubes. These sugar cubes were the rations that one worker carefully hid away in his desk, to be saved and used for just the right time.
Asia-Pacific war strategy map
We finished the day with afternoon tea. Probably our last afternoon tea here in London, as we head back home in exactly one month. This has become one of my favorite English traditions - and DJ is great to humor me :) I think it must be intentionally tiered so that it just gets better as you go up. You start with sandwiches, that are pretty tasty, but shy in comparison to the warm, tender scones. You enjoy the scones with some clotted cream and jam - delicious! But last the best of all the game - you finish with decadent desserts (poppy seed cake, tart, eclair, and chocolate cake in this case).
